Sea Eight, a leading company in sustainable premium sole farming, starts the construction of its new plant in Asturias, Spain. Located on the shore of the Cantabrian Sea, in the port of El Musel, in Gijón, this sole farm will be the fourth of the company, which has three more operations, two in Portugal and another one in Spain, specifically in Galicia. The land-based fish farming company says that this is a further step in its commitment to sustainable growth.
After this investment, Sea Eight's total capacity will exceed 1,500 tons per year. This will be a further step towards the objective set in its strategic plan of reaching more than 3,000 tons of production in the next few years and will be the starting signal for an international expansion plan with sales channels in Europe, the USA, and the Middle East.
Dedicated exclusively to the breeding and fattening of sole, with the project that now begins, El Musel aquaculture complex will cover the complete production cycle thanks to the development of a hatchery and six fattening modules, aimed at expanding the production capacity. The total plan has a foreseen investment of 73 million euros and contemplates the creation of 145 new jobs over the next few years.
"With this investment, we want to consolidate our leadership in the sustainable and high-quality sole market. We are convinced of the growing need for sustainably and locally produced food to feed the population", said Jaime León, CEO of Sea Eight.
The works starting now are the beginning of Phase I of the project, which will involve an investment of 12.3 million euros and create about 25 jobs. A first state-of-the-art production module based on RAS (Recirculation Aquaculture System) technology, entirely developed by the Sea Eigth team, will be built to guarantee product quality and animal welfare while minimizing environmental impact.
The new sole fish farm will be implemented under an administrative concession in a settlement with an excellent logistic location and a long fishing tradition. All those involved consider the project a great bet for the protection of the marine ecosystem and the state-of-the-art technology used, but also for the attraction of investment and employment that it will bring to the area.
"We would like to thank the administrations and other stakeholders for their support of our innovative project and we are sure we will continue to count on their support for successive phases, making our new site in Asturias a world reference for sustainable aquaculture production on land", stated León.
"We are very excited about the start of construction of our new plant in Asturias", also said Sea Eight's CEO. In this first phase of development, the company, which aims to supply the broad demand for sustainable and high-quality sole, expects to achieve a further increase in capacity of up to 440 tons on a sustainable basis.
Part of Atitlán Grupo Empresarial, Sea Eight is dedicated to the farming of solea sole through sustainable land-based aquaculture. To do so, the company uses a world-leading, highly sustainable RAS (Recirculating Aquaculture System) technology system, developed by its R&D team in Spain, which is implemented in land-based tanks without any impact on the marine environment. Sustainability, health care, specialization, and innovation are the basis of its activity and the pillars of its business strategy to achieve and guarantee the premium quality of its products.